INVERTED SOULS
by Elias Clodi'i
Summary: The merged races have fled, not to another system, but to a new galaxy, in a single deft movement. Cho'Nira, queen of the Terozerg, and Kiána, Elder of the Prototerrans, must now lead the peoples to thrive. However, when they encounter a malicious empire, the Merged realize that the worst is only beginning. Adept with both sides of the force, will the Merged races survive?
1. Chapter 1

The Merged races were in a panic. An'durion was the first into the council chamber, his severed Psionic appendages itching from the hate-filled thoughts of those assaulting their home planet.

Ki'ana was next into the room, returned from the planet she had habitated with a small group of Proto-terrans-now overrun by the Templar. Her once-blond hair was curled up tightly against her own Psionic Nubs, now grey and pale. Deep wrinkles carved her face, and he himself knew that he was no better off. The two siblings were 150 now, the oldest of their race, but they were young by Protoss standards. An'durion suspected that the stress of the war-and the pressure involved in subduing the dark powers with which he was familiar-had taken a deeper toll on him than on his youngest sister.

She took a seat at the council table, and they patiently awaited the arrival of the last representative. The...Terozerg were easier to deal with than their source races-either of them-but they were still something of an interruption to most meetings.

His face darkened. Bae'Raga, his half-sister, had died young. Old for a Zerg, but still far too young.

Her descendant, the current Queen of the Terozerg, entered then, rushing. She was new to the throne, her skin still smoothe. An'Durion found this new queen strange, as she was obviously the offspring of one of the drones. Normally, the royal family preferred ultralisk blood.

Traces of that still showed in her appearance, but the skin patterns gave her away-along with the lack of carapace.

"The Protoss forces have struck us hard on Shalagos." She stated as she sat down. "-All of our people-those left-have retreated to this world. We're holding off protoss forces on the southwestern hemisphere-but that's not saying much. We'll be overrun shortly. Terrans took out our other worlds as well."

An'Durion nodded at the girl-Cho'nira-and allowed the others of the council to file in. Younger masters of the Acadamies, The chiefs of the Terozerg breeds, and the few humans who had sided with them in their war. The Dark Templar who sympathised had few of their number on this world, and they sent one to the council. An'Durion recognised him-it was the same Dark Templar who had trained him in what he knew.

He himself spoke next, An'Durion's bones creaking, protesting the movement as he stood to get the attention of the gathered council.

"We Darksiders are gaining some relief from the assault in the eastern hemisphere, but we are also failing. Ki'ana-"he gestured towards his sister- "Has informed me that the Zealot forces are also failing. Our academies can only produce so much-and the races who seek our deaths have advanced far more than we. Our scientists predict that we will be anialated within six weeks unless something changes. A combined fleet of Terran Battlecruisers and Protoss carriers approaches, they will arrive here then."

One of the Breed-leaders of the Terozerg spoke up.

"What hope do we have then?" He asked, tusks interferring with his speech. "If the Protoss and the Terrans are so far advanced, what hope for survival do either of our races have?"

An'Durion turned to Ki'Ana. It was time to tell them.

She stood, slowly, calmly, to address the council.

"Our scientists have not developed much, but our two Psion academies-the Darksiders and the Temple Knights, may have learned something."

Cho-Nira smiled at her Great-Great Aunt. Or well, Half-aunt. She stood, and An'Durion was surprised, as were the others.

"I myself assisted with the project of which Ki'Ana speaks." She nodded at the Elder of the Prototerrans. "I personally believe that it is my race's _only_ hope of success. You may pursuade the Protoss and the Terrans to leave you alone, as you have done before, but the Zerg have been destroyed. With them gone, the Protoss and the terrans have shifted their hatred to us. Donivan intended for us to survive and thrive, and to be more peaceful than our predacessors."

She flashed a toothy grin at the council, her canines briefly menacing, "Not too difficult with our former race, the Zerg, but a bit difficult with the Protoss."

"Get on with it!" One of the younger heads of the Acadamies barked out, his crest flushing with frustration.

Ki'Ana smiled knowingly at An'durion and Cho'nira.

"The Psions have found a way to pursuade the Void-skills and the Bright-skills to work together. Darksiders and Temple Knights together can create a feild, that could theoretically relocate this entire starsystem."

The council fell back in shock.

"The whole system?"

Ki'Ana nodded. "To do so would be dangerous, but possible. All of our Psions may be killed in the battle, but we would at least be safe from the Protoss and the terrans."

The Cheif of the Science acadamy stood next, hesitantly, and spoke softly.

"How far would we have to go to be safe? You fled far from our ancestor races when the first Merge war broke out, and they have expanded to our position. Soon, the entire galaxy will be in the posession of our Ancestors. Where can we go?"

An'Durion lifted a hand, the elder weary-and growing irritable. He would pass on soon, he could feel it. The Dark-side energies he had been burning only marginally affected the Protoss, but they greatly cut human lifespan.

"My companions." He said firmly. "We do not present this option as a matter to debate. The council will decide if we shall try. However, If we do not attempt this, then we will fall."

"Where do you wish to relocate to?" The head of the Science Acadamy asked, crest indicating subservience.

An'Durion spoke softly.

"Xar'or'turas."

A ghasp rushed through the council chamber. The Terozerg cheifs stared in awe, visibly warming up to the idea, but the Prototerran Academics were stunned.

"But-To transfer our solar system to an entirely different galaxy…."

An'Durion nodded. "Would cost the minds of nearly every Psion on this planet. I am not sure if we will reach this destination, but we will at least be out of the reach of the Protoss and the Terrans for generations. They may never learn to do this, as we beleive it is our very merged natures that allows for this combined use of the Void and the Creation energies."

Cho Nira stood. "I have already pledged my Overlords to this cause. We will be left with precious few to manage our affairs-and our expansion, but as I stated-this plan is my race's only hope. I have committed fully, and discussed the risks with every Psion among my people. The Hive-minds will assist, and my Defiler-merges. But we cannot move this _planet_ on our own, let alone the solar system. We fall too heavily with the Void energies, by nature of our race."

Ki'Ana stood taller. "We ask the council to agree. We have only six weeks to gather all psions on the planet, leaving a few to manage when they are gone-if they must be gone. Prototerrans lean towards the light-together we can pull this off."

Cho'Nira and Ki'Ana sat down, leaving the council members to think.

The President of the Science Academy was the first to stand.

"I support the plan proposed by our elders and the Terozerg queen." He said softly.

"We relocate the system to Xar'os'tura."

* * *

><p>Tilovan stepped through the Terran ship, examining the grey blur, swirling black and white patterns, outside the veiw port. Warp-space was a strange environment. There was no sense of movement, no sense of change, and yet he knew personally that the ship was advancing quickly to the last World of the Merged-the cursed races, defiled forms of his people.<p>

He adjusted his headdress, his multi-jointed knees folding and unfolding to relieve pressure and tension from the jump. Terran ships only crudely accessed the warpspace, but the terrans were, for the most part, blind to the psionic pressures exerted by the environment.

A man stepped up, a short, strong human who Tilovan had begrudgingly come to work with. The general had been assaulting the new Zerg population-the Human hybrids, and had eliminated many of their colony worlds. Tilovan had been focusing on the "Prototerrans", the Half-breeds that dared to claim Protoss blood. After they were gone, Tilovan hoped to eliminate the Humans as well...but that was a battle for another day. The merged would die soon.

The human scowled.

"You are sure the data on the Prototerran base was accurate?"

Tilovan nodded, responding with the psionic vibrations of his people. "_Our templar have examined the data thoroughly. They believe the information is not only accurate- it is precise to every detail. Their world is not sufficiently defended. They will be crushed_. ¨

The general seemed to think about this for a moment.

"I hope you're right, Protoss. The Federation wouldn't take kindly to losing a fleet this far from home."

Tilovan made no mention that he wanted the Terrans to lose that fleet.

"_Are all your ships fully charged_?"

The terran chuckled. "If they all fired at once, we could destroy a small continent. But yes, they are charged."

Tilovan nodded, and it was then that a deep pressure-a kind he had never felt, began to rush out from the grey dimness around them.

He groaned, his mental anguish transmitting into the surrounding air.

He rushed to the bridge of the ship, the Terran General following close after, barking orders at his men to pull up the viewscreen.

They did-hurriedly, and the two commanders were left staring. All around them was a swirling of dark and light energies, but before them….was a brilliance. It appeared to their eyes to be a perfect shade of grey...yet it drew the eye, demanding attention.

Tilovan fell to his knees, groaning from the pressure in his head. Psionic energies wafted from the distant point, crippling him with their strength.

"Sir," one of the terran soldiers said from a side screen, "There's an immense energy reading, coming from ahead of us."

"What kind?" the general barked. He was beginning to get a headache, as if he had been listening to a high-pitched noise.

"Psionic sir."

"What's the source?"

THere was a long pause before the underling answered, but Tilovan already knew. There was only one option, one possible source.

"Acturas, Sir. The Merged Homeworld."

There was a final burst of Psionic energy, and then….silence.

Tilovan stood, inhaling and exhaling heavily, body shaking from mental strain. He began to leave the room, and the general cursed at him.

"Protoss! Where are you going?"

Tilovan turned to the general, defeated.

"I_ must turn my fleet around, General. Acturas is no longer there_."

Tilovan left the room, and the General stared at the door, demanding confirmation from the sensor readings.

Within two days, every possible reading confirmed: there was no gravity well where the solar system should have been.

Within four days, when the fleet arrived, their own eyes confirmed.

The solar system was gone.

The Merged races had fled.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Aftermath

_Note: This chapter will undergo major revisions later on. _

Cho'Nira woke slowly. But she did wake. Smoke wafted off of her skin, and her breathing was labored, feirce. She stood slowly, shaky on her feeble legs. She was often insecure because of her slimness. Only her psionic abilities had allowed her the respect of her people, the inheritance given to her from her Mothers, and only the talon on her arm gave her claim to the throne. Even if the claw was on her left side.

She planted the mass of chitin into the ground, using the bony plate to hold herself up. Her mind was fuzzy, cluttered. Had it worked? How could she tell?

A wind picked up, and the smoke began to clear, the breeze, annoyingly cool, peeling the smoke off of her skin. She hissed at the air, wrapping her arm around her waist, falling to her knees from pain. Her Carapace-where she had carapace, was scorched, and her second effort to stand left stars swirling through her vision.

Her black hair fell in front of her face, and she wheezed through her razor teeth.

She waited for the smoke to clear from the circle, to reveal the largest gathering of Psions in the history of her people, and her breath caught in her throat.

Bodies.

Multijointed legs sprawled on the scorched earth of the feild, bodies strewn with the twisted forms of her own people. Ashes fell from the sky, and whisps of mental energy still drifted from the center of the ring of bodies, filled with the determination of those who had been there.

Cho'Nira's violet eyes widened, and she began to hyperventilate, from mental strain and physical exhaustion.

Her eyes flicked to her left, and she fell onto her side, staring in shock.

An'Durion lay lifeless. The strongest. The most powerful. The greatest elder of the Prototerrans.

Her uncle. Her connection to her Greatest Grandfather. To the Humans.

She fought the weakness in her blood, the sympathy of the Drones. She was the queen of the Terozerg, she couldn't weep! SHe had to be strong.

She strained to sweep her mind out into the world, seeking the network of the Hiveminds, the other Queens, the Birthmothers. None were close enough for her to find the others. Those who were close enough to sense...were as dead as the psions in this circle.

She couldn't hold the weakness back anymore. She began to cry, silent tears dripping down her scarlet face. She couldn't remember anything about the rite, about the effort to move the system. But the sun was beating down on her scorched shoulders, and the hate of their enemies was gone, past the grasp of her mind.

She fell onto her back, chest rising and falling slowly, the panic fading as it was replaced with a blank emptiness. She no longer had the energy to feel, to weep.

Shadows began racing her way, legs folding and unfolding, feet pounding into the dirt. A light grey dome of hair skidded next to her, brilliant blue eyes glancing up at warriors behind her, golden armor gleaming.

Cho'Nira dimly recognized the figure standing over her, dimly recognized the words that came from those thin lips, sharp and commanding.

"Take her back to the conclave. Her people need to know she's alive. Search for other survivors."

Then the brief period of conciousness ended, and Cho'Nira fell into blackness.

Warmth. Surrounding her, encasing her. A gentle touch against her mind.

"_Majesty?"_

Cho'Nira turned her mind to the presence, recognising it. A hive mind, her distant cousin.

"_Yes?" _ She replied, wanting to tumble back into the blissful sleep, the absence.

The Hivemind smiled knowingly. Or, well, seemed to. Then Cho'Nira tumbled into the Dreaming, standing in the space created by the mind of the structure.

Cho'Nira was surprised to find this hive preferred a feild. Many preferred the comforting warmth of the creep-dilapidated though the merge creep was. She searched for this particular mind, trying to find the elusive form of thought that was the HIve.

It didn't take her long, and she ran forward, her three-toed feet plowing into the soil, carrying her through the long grass.

She stopped next to the figure of a woman, a young drone, picking flowers lazily. Cho'Nira couldn't help but listen to this figure, to watch them, wait for their thoughts to become manifest.

The figure spoke, and while her mouth moved, the words themselves pressed into the young queen's mind.

"_Do not worry. There are enough of us."_

Cho'Nira bowed her head, then stood taller.

"_We have our work cut out for us." _ She responded. "_We will need more overlords."_

The Hive smiled, holding out the creation she had made from the flowers, like a child to it's mother.

"_I know. Those of us that remain work to birth more. THeir support and strength of will will be needed in the days to come."_

Cho'Nira nodded.

"_I am in recovery?"_

The Hive, as the drone she used to be, nodded. "_THe energies that moved this world were strong. The force of the power did much damage to your cells."_

Cho'Nira frowned. "_But why did I survive?"_

The Hive smiled. "_Does it matter? We have our queen. You will lead us to strength and glory, alongside our sisters, as your mothers did before you."_

Cho'Nira nodded, staring out over the grass.

"_How long until I am fit to leave stasis?" _THe queen asked, swinging her claw, the remnant of her ultralisk blood, back and forth, like one of the Scythes, cutting a small clearing in the grass.

The Hive smiled at her.

"_You are ready now."_

Light hammered suddenly upon Cho'Nira's eyes, her real eyes, and she ghasped, throwing herself from the fleshy wall of the Hive. she fell to her knees, eyes flicking around the space, her hoof-like feet clanging softly against the metal catwalk. She found it amusing, how the Terozerg used space. Organism and machine, one combined.

She stretched her mind outwards, and through this hive, sensed the others. They were alive, they were strong. Though there were far fewer than she would have liked.

Then she stretched her body, the burns absent from her smooth skin. She flexed breifly as she stood, making sure that her muscles were properly repaired, bouncing up and down on her toes.

"_Is there an escort present?"_ She asked the Hive. One aspect of her drone Heratage she could appreciate: She was arguably the greatest Telepath known to her people, because of her mixed bloods.

The hive answered affirmative, though not quite with words.

Cho'Nira allowed herself to smile, and strode down the catwalk, emerging into the blazing sunlight of the Cheif City of her people. Lurker-Merges fell in around her, following the young queen across the dilapidated creep secreted by the Hive. Their shovel like talons sank into the fleshy mass of autotrophic cells, and well into the dirt beneath. Cho'Nira made a note to have the engineers outfit the newest lurkers with the drill-clasps the defilers had thought up. They would be able to lead the drones to newer deposites of minerals underground.

She snapped her fingers, and one of the lurkers tore off a segment of creep, handing it to her without a seccond thought. She examined it, and tossed the chunk onto a bare patch of dirt, psionically commanding it to spread. It wouldn't get far, but it would extract minerals, and sustain the buildings.

She stepped up to a large structure, radically different from all the others. It was purely made of metal, with no modifications, and no up-growth from the creep. Not that the creep was shy about the structure-the womb-like material had spread all the way to it, it just was regularly cleared away.

A young prototerran met her at the ramp. His gun was slung over one shoulder, exhaustion clear in his eyes as he spoke.

"Majesty."

His grey skin was paler than Cho'Nira had seen in a while, and she figured that this Prototerran had lost a lot of blood. The common purple sheen to his crest was largely absent.

"I wish to warp to Riosan." The queen said slowly. "To visit Ki'Ana, the elder."

The prototerran actually smiled, and Cho'Nira hesitated, brushing her thick, segmented hairs away from her head. She received a request from an overlord for a Lurker, and she signaled one of her escorts to aid the overlord. She didn't listen to the message too closely, it was from the local overlord, and had implications of "_assessing damage/finding buried survivors."_ She was beginning to get a headache, and it made focusing on the thoughts of the Overlord difficult.

The Prototerran spoke, after the one of her three escorts left.

"Ki'Ana is not currently in Riosan." He informed her. "She brought you personally." He spoke into a comunicating device on his wrist, attatched to the emmiter of his Pulseblade, and almost immediately, the old prototerran she had wished to see stepped out of a small hut behind the Warp Gate.

She wrapped her great-neice in a hug, Her light grey hair bobbing slightly. She had changed out of her Zealot's armor for once, and Cho'Nira wasn't sure how to react to seeing her Great-Aunt in flowing robes. She had been at war for most of her life, and Always, the Terrozerg wore their hides, even after the carapace dropped from looser held places.

"I am glad you recovered." The grey-skinned elder said, smiling widely. "We had feared none would survive."

Cho'Nira grimaced, wincing in pain at the vuagest memory of the event. "We took great losses. Is it confirmed? Is the system in Xar'os'tura?"

Ki'Ana nodded. "You were recovering for nearly a week. In that time, our observatories have confirmed our location. At the least, we are within a foregin galaxy."

Cho'Nira shook her head. "I'm sorry I'm so rude, we should sit down to talk."

In reality, she needed to sit because her head was spinning from the shadow of memory.

The two stepped inside Ki'Ana's temporary living, and Cho'Nira was startled to find that her great-aunt was allowing a section of creep to grow up the wall. It seemed that the old Prototerran was actively encouraging the structure, Cho'Nira could see that it was nearly to the point of deciding how to specialize. Cho'Nira wasn't sure why she was surprised, all of her Aunt's stories of her grandmother had always been affectionate. It was strange for the Terozerg queen to consider the fact that a creature who so closely resembled her mortal enemy...could encourage the creep to develop so close to her.

Cho'Nira spread her mind towards the growing the patch of creep coming through the window, and groaned as a lance of pain shot through her mind. Why did this hurt? She had fully communicated with her commanders only moments before!

Ki'Ana rushed to her side, holding her up as the younger girl's knees buckled.

"you'll be fine." The prototerran whispered, thin lips pursed, "Lie down for a moment."

The Elder set Cho'Nira down on a bed, and the girl welcomed the smell of the mattress.

"How many did we lose total?" The queen asked, praying for her headache to die down."

Ki'Ana grimaced. "Of the forty million we had, we have dwindled to only twenty."

It took Cho'Nira a moment to recognise the significance. She tried to reach out towards the Hive, to get an exact count of their losses...but the pain lanced through her brain again.

She sat up, cradling her head, and Ki'Ana grimaced.

"You are not alone in your agony. Our remaining psions are feeling the effects of the transportation as well. We had three survivors from the ring itself, and all of them are currently incapacitated, though they are recovering."

Cho'Nira hissed through her teeth. A comforting presence drifted from the small patch of creep in the hut, and Cho'Nira placed her hand on it thankfully.

Ki'Ana sighed. "Rebuilding will take months, if not years. Two of our cities were overrun, and demolished. One of our greater Acadamies detonated during the Transport, and most of our losses came from that single event."

Cho'Nira thought back to her discussion with the Hive.

"We have barely enough overlords to communicate." She whispered. "One at each hive, fully half of our hives died-as near as I can tell."

Ki'Ana grimaced. "I wish you smoothe recoveries. Our scouts and carriers are surveying our new home, as soon as we find habitable worlds, we will inform you. "

Cho'Nira nodded appreciatively. "you seem to know us well."

She hesitated, turning to her aunt.

"Ki'Ana?"

The woman turned to her, silvery blue eyes deep, thoughtful.

"Yes?"

Cho'Nira stood. "It's a good sign that I can communicate at all with my people, isn't it? After what we did."

Ki'Ana smiled. "It's more than An'Durion had hoped for when he saved you."

Cho'Nira bowed her head. "Why did he? How did he? We were fully engaged in coercing the Void and Creation to cooperate, where did he find time to sheild me from the release of energies?"

The Prototerran woman shook her head, and shrugged, then left her hut, speaking with the Zealot guarding the warp gate.

Cho'Nira sat in thought for a long time. Then she carefully acsessed her psionic traits, and sent a careful signal to the overlord present at this site.

"_Bring me a Shell-Hound. I must see the other Hives myself."_

They had survived the Protoss, now she had to lead her people through the aftermath of their escape.

The Merged would rebuild, and they would survive. So long as there weren't worse threats awaiting them.


End file.
